


Dominated by headlines

by Amerna



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, F/M, Paparazzi, media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 17:58:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6715420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amerna/pseuds/Amerna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who is Darcy Lewis? Assorted media accounts before and after she was revealed to be Tony Stark’s daughter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dominated by headlines

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UniversalKatie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UniversalKatie/gifts).



> A long time ago (in a galaxy far far away ;-)) [I was prompted on Tumblr](http://amerna.tumblr.com/post/134492181176/hi-amerna-im-a-huge-fan-of-your-works-on-ao3) for my take on "Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's daughter" + the media shitstorm. This is what I made of it (it only took me five months...). It was surprisingly difficult to no longer write Darcy as the "I can do it all PR genius"!
> 
> It's un-beta'd, so all mistakes are mine. (Feel free to point them out, though.)

### Dominated by headlines

Yo, spawn, somebody is trying to hack your facebook  
  
again  
  
should i be worried?  
  
nah  
  
nothing on there  
  
all people want is that picture of thor  
  
let them be  
  
would be far more suspicious if they didn’t manage to hack it because the security is so tight  
  
that picture was taken two years ago. what do they want now?  
  
lemme check  
  
it’s 4chan. they wanna know who i am  
  
now that i’m "living in the tower"  
  
close to the avengers  
  
hahahaha, this is hilarious  
  
"she’s a nobody"  
  
"they took her out of pity"  
  
"political science? good luck finding a job"  
  
"she knows nothing"  
  
"she’s probably banging all of them"  
  
ewww, daughter, please, i don’t want to contemplate that  
  
that was all relatively innocent, old man  
  
i mean, you really haven’t been in the darkest corner of the internet  
  
no, thankfully no.  
  
let me know if iron man needs to protect your honor

~*~

the tabloids are hilarious  
  
look, we made the news:  
  
Tony Stark & Darcy Lewis! He’s trading Pepper for a younger model!  
  
Ewwwwwwwwwww  
  
That’s one of the things i never expected when you moved into the tower "officially"  
  
And became more visible  
  
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww  
  
Hey, do you think they are going to make me cap’s girlfriend next?  
  
DO YOU WANT TO BE?  
  
IS THERE SOMETHING I SHOULD KNOW?  
  
DO I NEED TO HAVE A HEART TO HEART WITH THE NONAGENARIAN?  
  
SHOVEL TALK?  
  
HE KNOWS THAT I HAVE AN EXTENSIVE, EXTENSIVE (!!!!!!!!!) WEAPONS COLLECTION, RIGHT?  
  
that escalated quickly  
  
chill  
  
also, you know that shovel talk is deeply sexist, right?  
  
i mean, maybe i’m nat’s lesbian girlfriend next  
  
would you threaten her too?  
  
No, but only because nat is scary  
  
she would kill me in her sleep and make it look like an accident  
  
wait, that’s your masterplan, isn’t it? so you will inherit everything?  
  
Should i accelerate the plans for the foundation?

~*~

_Avengers central_   
**Weekly update**

There hasn’t been much news on the Avengers front this week:

  * Captain America made some appearances for charity (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3). There were rumors from an unverified source that he has a girlfriend, but that’s probably all conjecture.
  * There were plenty of Natasha Romanoff sightings which all turned out to be fake (seriously, guys, if the Black Widow doesn’t want to be found, she will not be found)
  * Tony Stark and Pepper Potts went on a date in Malibu (Source)
  * Darcy Lewis reportedly is now Pepper Pott’s personal assistant (no official source, just chatter on Twitter, x, x, x)



~*~

**Tony Stark pledges his fortune to charity**

Tony Stark is following the in the footsteps of other rich men and has announced today that he has pledged the majority of his fortune to charity. He revealed that 99% of his shares in Stark Industries, the main source of his personal wealth, were granted to the Maria Stark Foundation, the charitable institution he founded in the early 1990s following his parents’ untimely death.

“Of course this is about planning what comes after me,” Tony Stark said at the press conference. “In contrast to other superheroes, I am actually a mortal and I age and all. I don’t have anybody who wants to inherit the family business, so we decided upon this approach together.”

The grant, which puts the foundation into the top 10 of the wealthiest charitable foundations worldwide, will help the foundation to greatly expand its scope. In addition to its established programs that focus on fostering scientific research and STEM education, the overall philanthropic activity will now also include international relations and catastrophe recovery programs.

Tony Stark further announced that they plan to make some organizational changes to the foundation, which will be announced in the following weeks. The CEO of Stark Industries will no longer serve as the chair of the foundation, instead they plan to appoint a new head of the foundation who will work independently from the CEO’s office.

~*~

Maria Stark Foundation @starkfoundation

Darcy Lewis was appointed head of the Maria Stark Foundation today: bit.ly/5kd93ll

~*~

 **Darcy Lewis was just made head of the Maria Stark Foundation** ~ 497 comments

Which Avengers do you have to sleep with to get such a job at such a young age?

that slut is sleeping with all of them

im voting black widow. i always get such a butch lesbian vibe from her

yeah because you know her so well…

clearly she’s having a threesome with tony and pepper. And now she’s being rewarded. Bitches with those boobs? Got it easy

~*~

**In defense of Darcy Lewis**  
_By Oliver Glenn | @avengersolly_

I know this won’t endear me to many people in certain parts of the internet, because Darcy Lewis is the one person we love to hate due to her meteoric rise at Stark Industries and her perceived influence on the Avengers (she seems to be besties with both Thor and Captain America), but apart from those petty feelings let’s look at the facts for a moment.

People often claim that she’s unqualified for her job and that she shouldn’t hold such an influential position before she even turned 30, since she’s “only” a political science major that almost took 5 years to graduate with average grades. Sure, that’s what is says on her facebook and on the other material that’s publicly available (which is weird, because there’s so little that we know about her – but more about that later), but I did some digging and it’s actually hugely misleading. She’s more than a political scientist, let’s look at her educational background:

  * Sure, she majored in political science, but her minor was electrical engineering at Culver
  * She has a master’s degree from Columbia in International Relations
  * A person called Darcy Lewis is currently enrolled in a MBA program at Harvard



And she has a work history at Stark Industries:

  * She actually interned at the Stark Industries facility in Malibu for a few summers during her teen years, though there’s no record available on what exactly she did.
  * She worked closely with Tony Stark as his assistant before becoming Pepper Potts’ PA. Most people don’t remember this, because they don’t remember the pre-Pepper Potts years, but being Tony Stark’s assistant was, and probably still is, an enormously difficult job. Before Pepper Potts he basically changed them every two to three months because people couldn’t handle the pressure, I can’t imagine that this is now different, with him saving the world and all. And not only did Darcy Lewis survive for over a year, she thrived and even got a promotion out of it. So Darcy is basically the new Pepper Potts.
  * As Pepper Potts’ assistant Darcy was exposed to a wide variety of tasks that prepared her for her current position. Did you see the job description Stark Industries posted when they were searching for Darcy’s replacement as Pepper Potts’ PA? As her assistant Darcy was basically Pepper’s body woman, she 
    * accompanied her everywhere (read: willingness to travel at moment’s notice)
    * arranged lodging, transportation, and meals (read: organization of corporate & company entertainment, management meetings and events)
    * provided business development assistance (read: assist the CEO in developing proposals and in reviewing, negotiating, and finalizing acquisitions, divestitures, JV’s or other contractual agreements)
    * reviewed official documents and handled Pepper’s correspondence
    * designed and produced documents, memos, reports, speeches, and presentations for the CEO
    * did her own projects and research as instructed by the CEO
    * had budget responsibility



And back to my point above: Shouldn’t we be a little suspicious about how difficult it is to get data about her?

Sure, there is her facebook that was hacked early on that had, as expected, the clichéd pictures of a carefree college girl that got embroiled in a big thing and made the best of it. But there’s barely anything beyond that. We have the occasional pictures when she’s out and about with the Avengers, mostly Tony Stark, Thor and Captain America. Unlike many Millennials, Darcy doesn’t have Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or any other form of social media we can follow (stalk) her on.

One of you guys tried to look into her family and all we know is that she was apparently brought up in California by a single mom, whose name we never managed to get. Her SHIELD file, that got dumped onto the internet in that whole SHIELDRA upheaval two years ago, was suspiciously clean, too. All we know from that is that she apparently tasered Thor when he first came to Earth because he was frightening her, and rescued animals from the local shop when an extraterrestrial… apparatus attacked the city.

Sure, Darcy can be one of those paranoid nut jobs that doesn’t put stuff on the internet and carefully protects her privacy and has influential friends that help her, but this level of security is actually suspicious.

So my main point is: Stop treating Darcy Lewis as the carefree, a little empty-headed, taserhappy ex-college girl with the big breasts that is somehow sleeping her way to the top. She is much more than that. If nothing else, she’s extremely well-educated. But I’ll go on a limb and actually add: There is more to Darcy Lewis than meets the eye and we’ll actually hear more from her in the next few years.

~*~

“That was a good article,” Steve says. He came up to Darcy from behind while she has it open on her tablet and read it too. “He did a really good job describing you.”

“Yeah,” Darcy agrees, turns her head around and kisses him softly on the lips before she puts the tablet away and gets up from the couch, “thankfully most people are still blinded by my image as the normal college girl that somehow ended up in the Avengers whirlwind and made the best of it.”

“Your mom, Tony, Rhodey, Pepper and you put years into crafting and perfecting that image,” Steve points out. “It allowed you a normal childhood and everything, a normal experience without the ‘I am Tony Stark’s only daughter and sole heir’ stamp on your forehead.”

“I know.”

Steve scrutinizes her for a moment. “Are you reconsidering? Going public?” he then asks. “Because you don’t necessarily have to. Harold is okay with stepping down to make place for the next generation, but he can also serve for another few years.”

“I’m okay, I could make fun about all this when it was just me. But… it’s just… the people around me that will eventually get caught up in the storm. You, for example. You know what will come next once I’m revealed to be Tony Stark’s daughter, right?”

“What?” Steve asks.

“All the coverage about my private life, my love life mostly. I’ll probably be rebranded as the degenerate love child, no matter what I did, what I’m going to do. And as the Stark heir I’m obviously supposed to sleep around, like my father and grandfather did before me.”

“But you are not… you are happily married to me. There’s no real basis for that.”

“You of all people should know that the tabloids don’t need a basis. For anything really. We’ll have to keep quiet and endure, I guess.”

Steve grins widely. “Well, my love life has been subject to a lot of speculation already. It’ll be funny to see what happens if you add Darcy Stark to the mix.”

~*~

Stark Industries Official @starkindustries

Stark Industries announces change in board of directors: bit.ly/kd92ko

~*~

**Stark Industries announces change in board of directors**

Stark Industries, Inc. (“Stark Industries” or “the company”), the world’s leading technological company, today announced a change in the board of directors.

Harold Winterblom, the longest-serving member, is retiring after 17 years. Mr. Winterblom, the former CEO of Avantgarde Tech, first joined the board when Stark Industries acquired Avantgarde Tech in 2000.

“It’s been an honor serving on the Company’s board during all these years,” said Mr. Winterblom. “The last decade especially has been hallmarked by swift change, most significantly by the successful transition from weapons manufacturer to technological company. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to work with both Anthony Stark and Virginia Potts to lead Stark Industries into a new age of prosperity.”

His seat will be filled by Darcy Antonia Lewis, head of the Maria Stark Foundation and Tony Stark’s daughter.

Ms. Lewis has been a longstanding employee with the company since her early teenage years. Ms. Lewis holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University and an MBA from Harvard. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and electrical engineering from Culver University.

“We are happy that Darcy accepted the position to serve on the board now that Harold has chosen to retire to spend more time with his family,” CEO Pepper Potts said. “Darcy has already left her mark with her work for the Maria Stark Foundation and will add a different view while continuing to uphold the Stark family legacy.”

~*~

Covering Stark Industries as an analyst is mostly boring these days. The company does perfectly, goes from one record performance to the next. With each new announcement their share price skyrockets. Their products set new standards in the tech industry. Their former CEO saves the world on a regular basis. Their current CEO is flawless.

So when James Brandt receives the email notification that Stark Industries had announced a change in their board of directors, he clicks on the link without expecting any new revelations. He skims through the article that had been posted on the company’s website quickly. It is the usual blah blah. One officer retires, the next one will take over, probably another middle-aged white guy. Something he has seen 1,000 times before.

Then he makes it to the fourth paragraph.

James reads the sentence and pauses. Then he reads it again. And then for the third time.

James isn’t one to keep up with tabloid profiles. His husband is the one who knows all about who is dating who and who is cheating on whom and is was getting a divorce or has announced that they were expecting. But James is sure on one thing: Tony Stark doesn’t have a daughter. He doesn’t have children, stat. Sure, there have always been claims from supposedly illegitimate children, especially with all the poor life choices Tony Stark has made in the past, but sooner or later they have all turned out to be false.

Only a few months ago Tony Stark announced that he had nobody to inherit the family fortune, which was why he had given all of it to charity.

James stares on his computer screen for a moment, processing the new information. There it is, in black and white: Tony Stark confessing to having an adult secret daughter. James switches his browser window to check his news feed. It seems as if nobody has picked up on it. Yet. So James opens Twitter.

James Brandt @JamesBrandt

Tony Stark confesses to having secret daughter: bit.ly/kd92ko #DarcyLewis #StarkIndustriesAnnouncement #bombshell

Ten minutes later the internet explodes.

~*~

~*~

Oliver Glenn @avengersolly

I KNEW IT!!!!!!! #DarcyLewis

~*~

Darcy’s mom hides out the press storm in one of Tony’s vacation homes on a far-away island. When she returns home after two weeks, there are a few paparazzi that are camping out on her front lawn and yell questions, but they quickly disappear once they realize that Cynthia Lewis’ life in a suburb outside of LA is not worth writing about. Cynthia gets a few pointed questions from neighbors and co-workers at her law firm, but that quickly fades away. She resumes her normal life without any major hiccups and she only gets photographed when Darcy is around.

Darcy meanwhile tries to continue her life like nothing has happened, but the hordes of paparazzi that now follow her everywhere are difficult to ignore. After a month she’s a tabloid staple, but the coverage about her is hilariously wrong.

~*~

**Darcy & Natasha: Lesbian Lovers!**

**Darcy Lewis Stark marries Hawkeye in secret ceremony**

**Mysterious new lover! Is that the Falcon we just saw Darcy with?**

**Get ready for Your Royal Highness, Asgardian Princess Darcy! Thor just asked Tony for his blessing!**

**Green-eyed envy! Darcy is dating the Hulk! Tony is seething! Says Bruce is old enough to be her father!**

**The new power couple: Darcy and Bruce ‘the Hulk’ Banner. Tony is overjoyed! Bruce has had such a positive, calming influence on Darcy!**

**Darcy Lewis, polygamist: She’s petitioning to marry both the Black Widow and Hawkeye!**

**Tony’s Harem Worry: Darcy Lewis and friend Jane Foster two of Thor’s many concubines! Polyamory – it’s a thing!**

**It gets ugly: Darcy is tearing the Avengers apart! Captain America forces Iron Man to chose between family and obligation!**

**Stark Tower of sin: Orgies! Jealousy! Darcy in the midst of love triangle that is threatening everything!**

**Darcy & Warmachine: We’ve eloped!**

~*~

“Tabloids are weird,” Sam says, reaching for the coffee, “really weird.”

Darcy looks up from her morning paper, which she still reads on paper because it makes her father crazy that she consumes the news “the old-fashioned way”. Steve, in contrast, switched to an online subscription years ago. “What is it today?”

“How come that you are never paired with Steve, your real-life, if somewhat secret husband, in the tabloids? I mean, you guys attended the Stark Foundation thing yesterday together and the headline is: ‘Captain America accompanies gal pal Darcy Lewis to Stark Foundation outing’. What the fuck?”

“I think it’s because Captain America is too straight-laced to be with the degenerate, out of wedlock wild child of Tony Stark,” Steve says. “It is really weird.”

“It’s also super out of character.” Sam shakes his head disbelievingly. “Sure, you guys are not fans of PDA and such, but usually Darcy only has to be _seen_ with a person once and she’s automatically sleeping with them. I mean, I was photographed with Darcy a few weeks back and I had to explain to everybody, starting with my mother and ending with my third grade English teacher, that I’m not dating the Stark heiress. And the week before that the main headline was: ‘Darcy  & Natasha: Lesbian Lovers!’ And every second week Darcy is on her way to becoming a real life Asgardian princess because Thor is going to wed her or add her to his harem or something.”

Darcy shrugs. “We don’t know. But we are also not contradicting them. As long as it’s not slanderous and we are suing, we are not saying anything.”

“It’s crazy,” Sam says with conviction. “Really crazy. And you are a victim here, Darcy.”

“You learn to live with it,” Steve points out. “You have to.”

“Sure, but also: you’re pregnant, Darcy. You’ll start showing soon enough. And if you don’t explicitly state that Steve is the father, who will they think it is? The holy spirit?”

“My guess,” Steve grins mischievously, “she’s carrying Tony’s clone to term.”

Sam stares at him in horror, his mouth hanging open. “How do you even come up with something like that?”

Steve holds his hands up in a defensive gesture. “I’m telling you, it’s gonna happen.”

“Don’t you guys want to do anything about it?”

~*~

_helena-on-asgard submitted to avengersdailynews_

Captain America – first class paparazzi troll

so, i’ve just witnessed the most effective form of psychological warfare ever, by the hands of Captain America. seriously, this is all true. master tactician if you’ve ever seen one.

i saw Darcy and Captain America out in the streets of new york today. (side note: do we know what their deal is? i mean, the tabloids/papers all say that they are just good friends, but they seem close?) anyway, you know how it is ever since Darcy was revealed to be the Stark HeirTM, the press follows her everywhere, whenever she’s in a public space. she mostly keeps to herself, hides behind her sunglasses, doesn’t react to their yelled questions, doesn’t talk, etc. but today you could tell that it was grating on her.

so Captain America looks clearly worried and decides to do something about it. they enter a store, for chocolate i think, and the paparazzi wait outside. so while they wait, Captain America comes out again and walks up to the waiting horde. you kind of get ready for a Stern LectureTM and the Captain America Scowly FaceTM, but nothing like that happened. boy oh boy, nothing like _that_ happened.

he goes on and proceeds to hug each and every single one of the paparazzi for an exceedingly long amount of time. seriously, it was uncomfortable. you could tell, even from across the street. everyone was uncomfortable, the one who was hugged and the other guys who had to witness this amazing display of non-violent warfare disguised as display of affection. and then he just says: “the lady would like to be left alone for a little bit” and they actually left! everybody was so super weirded out that they actually left!

it was amazing. i love it. master tactician, first class paparazzi troll steve rogers, i’m telling you

~*~

“I want to make it all public,” Darcy says out of the blue a few weeks later.

Both her father and Steve, who were quietly discussing some Avengers related topic, and Pepper, who was quietly reading a maternity book, look up at her.

“What do you want to make public?” Steve asks to clarify.

“Our relationship,” Darcy explains, “that I’m married to you, that we are having a child, that I’m not the degenerate Stark spawn, that I’m a human person who is affected by all these things in the papers.”

Tony frowns at her. “Are you okay?”

Darcy sighs heavily. “It’s just… all the coverage about me is starting to grate on me and I’d really like to do something about it. If you are okay with that…” she trails off.

“You don’t need our permission,” Steve says immediately. “It’s your life, you can do whatever you want to do.”

“Darcy,” Tony looks at her earnestly, “public scrutiny is nothing you have to suffer through. If you don’t like it, we have to do something.”

“But the secrecy all these years-”

“Was for your own protection,” Pepper interrupts her. “Now you are public by your own choice. If you want to be more open, be more open.”

“Oh…” Darcy looks surprised. “I always thought that we would just continue this way and that it was part of our strategy.”

“We thought we were honoring your wishes,” Tony says. “Keeping mum and all. Let the tabloids do their spiel.”

“If you want to, you can start tweeting all your opinions right this instant,” Pepper adds. “Or give a press conference every second day. Go on Oprah if that’s what you want to do. As long as you are comfortable, we don’t care.”

“How long has this been going on? That it’s bothering you, I mean,” her father wants to know.

“A few months,” Darcy admits.

“But you always poked fun at the tabloids,” he says, confused.

“It was fun for a while, but by now the situation has grown over my head… Making fun was nice before I was basically sleeping with half of New York and destroying everything with my antics. I mean, I am basically more destructive than the Hulk. I’d like to change that. Change the narrative.”

“We can certainly do that,” Pepper decides and both Steve and Tony nod.

“Okay, good. How do we do that? Do we put out a statement?”

Pepper looks pensive for a moment. “No,” she then decides, looking between both Steve and Darcy, “but how do you feel about some public PDA at the next available occasion?”

~*~

**Avengers Family Feud!**

Things at Avengers tower are about to blow up. Big time. And it’s not any super villain’s or even the super heroes’ fault. It’s Tony Stark’s two leading ladies who have started a big cat fight. That’s right, despite public assurances on the contrary, Pepper Potts and Darcy Lewis don’t get along.

“Darcy wants a piece of what is rightfully hers,” an insider says. “She’s trying to upstage Pepper. Darcy has taken control of the foundation that is headquartered in New York and is influencing Stark Industries that way, meanwhile Pepper is managing the company from their California offices.”

Another person close to the situation reveals that the two ladies might play nice for the public and to protect their reputation, but that behind closed doors things are ready to get really ugly.

“Tony is helpless in all of this,” a close friend reveals. “He loves them both equally, but he cannot control the two ladies. They want him to chose one of them to head the Stark family legacy and he doesn’t want to decide. And that’s why he sees his legacy crumble right in front of his eyes.”

~*~

Blind item: Another celebrity heiress is going to reveal her pregnancy soon. As to who the father is: Your guess is as good as mine.

~*~

Even the best laid plans go awry sometimes. Darcy had planned to walk the red carpet for the annual Battle of New York fundraiser hand in hand with Steve, her pregnancy belly out for the world to see. But Steve was called away on a mission to god knows where last minute, which is why Darcy is now walking the red carpet alone. She can only fathom what the tabloids will make out of surprise!pregnant degenerate spawn of Tony Stark right now. She is probably having triplets from three different fathers tomorrow.

Darcy takes a deep breath before exiting the car and entering the fray. She could’ve forgone the event or at least avoided the red carpet and made into the venue without facing the hungry hyenas and the angry flashing of their cameras, but people would’ve caught up eventually. So she does what she always does: Put on her brave face and deals with it.

There’s a sudden frenzy when Darcy makes it into the spotlight and people realize why exactly her belly is swollen. She had done a good job at hiding her growing stomach at first, but now, at five months, it can no longer be mistaken for a sudden weight gain from eating too much and/or no longer working out.

“Darcy, who’s the father?” one of the paparazzi yells.

“Captain America,” Darcy yells back.

Her statement is met with a moment of shocked silence and then laughter.

It is going to be a long day.

~*~

Steve is gone for over a month and the information Darcy receives is spotty at best. He misses their third anniversary and her latest ultrasound. Meanwhile the press goes on a complete rampage to speculate about “Darcy’s baby daddy”. Carrying Tony Stark’s (her father’s!) clone to term like Steve predicted isn’t even the worst thing they come up with. At some point Alien impregnation is discussed for two entire days.

Darcy tries to not let it affect her, knows that it’s toxic to dwell on it, but at this point in her life it starts to grate on her and she even discusses the option to do a tell-all one-on-one interview on national television. Pepper advises her to wait and not to do anything rash or what she might regret later. They both agree to reduce Darcy’s public appearances.

Steve returns in the most romanticized, dramatic, heroic fashion and it’s the first picture that Darcy gladly shares with the public at large. It’s the official photographer for the foundation who takes it.

Darcy is giving a tour of the tower for a dozen teenage girls from a Harlem school that are part of a STEM scholarship the Maria Stark foundation funds. They are in the control room for the landing pad, when the quinjet comes in. It lands and Steve steps onto the loading ramp, deep in discussion with Natasha. He is in full uniform; his hair is ruffled and wind-swept; he seems to be unharmed; he looks commanding and self-assured.

Darcy forgets what she was just telling the girls, stops abruptly mid-sentence and walks to the door and onto the landing bay. Natasha notices her first, she grins widely, says something to Steve and motions in Darcy’s direction. Steve’s eyes zero in on her immediately and then he’s already running up to her and before Darcy knows it he engulfs her in a tight hug, lifts her up and twirls her around.

“I missed you,” he whispers into her hair.

“I missed you more,” she tells him.

He sets her back down, tips her backwards, and kisses her. One hand is on Darcy’s back to steady her, the other is laying on her stomach. Darcy’s hand is palming the back of his head.

That exact moment is caught on camera for posterity.

When Darcy and Steve come back to, they are facing the girls and their teacher gaping at them. Darcy blushes, but Steve just grins widely. His hand remains on the small of her back, possessive.

Steve greets them all, but the teenage girls and their teacher look between the two of them, blinking, uncomprehending.

“Sorry, but I just really missed my wife,” Steve offers as an explanation and doesn’t sound apologetic at all.

“Wife?” the photographer croaks behind them.

“Three years last week,” Darcy says.

Her statement is met with stunned silence, because their audience is probably trying to reconcile that revelation with the year-long coverage about Darcy Lewis, Stark heiress, rumored to sleep around with half of New York, and the lifelong reports about Captain America, larger-than-life superhero, personification of all that is good and safe in this world.

“And they are still sickening cute with each other,” Natasha comments, coming up behind them. With a flick of her wrist and an arched eyebrow she gets the photographer to turn over his camera.

“I can take over the tour,” Nat offers, while she checks out the pictures on the camera, “if you want some alone-time. Also,” she hands over the camera to Darcy, “you wanted to be more open, right? I think you should really publish the picture of your kiss to announce your marriage and who exactly the father of the next Stark heir is.”

“And to stick it to the tabloids that they’ve been barking up the wrong tree for over a year,” Steve adds.

Darcy takes a deep breath and nods. “I’ll call Pepper about our media strategy and what she thinks about me getting an official social media account.”

~*~

The picture is her first entry on her Instagram and it breaks the internet for a second or two. It becomes the most popular Instagram photo of all time at record speed. The coverage about Darcy turns around so quickly, she almost gets whiplash.

Suddenly she is Darcy Lewis, Captain America’s wife, Stark heiress, philanthropist, media darling. There are a few more nasty pieces and a few conspiracy theorists, that won’t shut up, but overall the press takes it much easier on her.

Darcy is completely mystified. If she’d known that it would take so little to get the paparazzi and the tabloid vultures off her back, she would’ve started this earlier. Steve takes to it almost immediately and is responsible for most of the artsy pictures on her Instagram. He is, after all, the one with the artistic talent in their growing family.

For Darcy it takes some time to get used to it, because after decades of keeping secrets, of not telling anybody about her family, of hiding everything out of fear of being found out, it’s still odd to be so open about it. Well, as open as she wants to be. She tries to be charming and honest and herself on her social media accounts, which seems to work somehow. Being a woman under public scrutiny still sucks and being a woman on the internet will probably suck until the end of time. But she finally gets back her own agency and has a voice that will be heard.

And she’s planning on putting it to good use.

**Author's Note:**

> The texting skin right at the beginning is from [this tutorial by CodenameCarrot and La_Temperanza](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6434845).
> 
> Steve hugging the paparazzi was inspired by [this piece about Jim Carrey](http://nooby-banana.tumblr.com/post/25715471609/becauseimdavefuckinstrider-jim-fucking-carrey) (I don't know if it's true or just an urban legend, but it's a great story!).
> 
> [The Eyre Affair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eyre_Affair) is a real book (one of my favourites!).
> 
> You can find me [here on tumblr](http://amerna.tumblr.com/) if you want to prompt me to write a story for you that will take months to complete ;-)


End file.
